Reeling apparatus for cooling hot rod



Oct. 22, 1957 N. A. WILSON 2,310,570

REELING APPARATUS FOR COOLING HOT ROD Filed March 5, 1954 v 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. Norman R. WC lson N. A. WILSON REELING APPARATUS FOR COOLING HOT ROD I Oct. 22, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 5. 1954 JNVENTOR. Norma-n H. Wilson H o'rn y nite.

2,810,570 REELING APPARATUS FOR COOLING HOT ROD Application March 5, 1954, Serial No. 414,409 i 5 Claims. (Cl. 266-6) This invention relates to a reeling apparatus and more particularly to a pouring reel apparatus for coiling steel rod as it leaves the last stand of a rolling mill.

in the production of steel rod, it is the usual practice to form the rod into coils after it leaves the rolling mill in order that it may be handled more easily. It is necessary, however, to lower the temperature of the'rod to a point below the critical temperature of the steel in a short time after it leaves the rolling mill. Otherwise, scale forms rapidly on the surface of the rod and it may not be possible to hold the metallurgical properties to desired specifications. Although the rod is passed through water boxes between the mill and the reel, the time in which it resides in the boxes for cooling is very short. As a matter of fact, with the increases in rolling speed that have been taking place in the last few years, this method of cooling becomes less and less effective. If one waits until the coil is removed from the reel before beginning cooling, the rod has had the entire reeling time to deteriorate. It was suggested in the patent to Myles Morgan No. 2,621,914 that the cooling take place in the reel itself and this patent shows a laying reel which provides for such cooling. Until the present time, however, it has not been possible to accomplish this with a pouring reel and the present invention satisfies a long-standing need.

It is therefore an outstanding object of the present invention to provide a reeling apparatus in which hot rod may be cooled during reeling.

It is another object of the invention to provide a pouring reel having apparatus for cooling rod during the coiling operation, which apparatus does not interfere with the normal operation of the reel.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the invention then comprises the features hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims, the following description and the annexed drawings setting forth in detail certain illustrative embodiments of the invention, these being indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principle of the invention may be employed.

In said annexed drawings:

Figure l is an elevational view of the invention, and

Figure 2 is an enlarged sectional view of the invention taken on the line II-II of Figure l.

Referring first to Figure 1, wherein is best shown the general features of the invention, the reeling apparatus, designated by the reference numeral 10, comprises a pouring reel 11 driven by a shaft 12. The reel is provided with a housing 13 on which is mounted a superstructure 14 which consists of vertical supporting members 15, 16, 17 and 18 and a horizontal table portion 19. On the central part of the table portion is mounted adraft means such as a fan 20 of the usual type; this fan is arranged to discharge downwardly into a vertical conduit 21 which is dependent from the fan and table. The conduit is of rectangular cross-sectional shape and extends downwardly to a point slightly below the midpoint rates Patent between the table portion of the superstructure and the top edge of the housing 13. A motor 22 is suitably mounted on the table portion and connected through a coupling 23 to the fan 20. I

A cover 24 overlies the housing 13 of the reel and fits it in a' substantially air-tight manner. This cover is provided with notches 25 and 26 which embrace the vertical members 17 and 18 and are guided thereby. A large rectangular aperture 27 extends through the central portion of the cover and from this aperture extends a vertical conduit 28 which telescopes over the conduit 21, there being a substantially air-tight sealing means 29 provided between the upper end of the conduit 28 and the surface of the conduit 21. Guide braces 30 and 31 are fastened to the intermediate outer portion of the conduit 28 and slidably embrace the vertical member's17 and 18, respectively, at their outer ends.

Between the table portion 19 of the superstructure and the cover- 24 extends a motive means suchas hydraulic actuating cylinders 32 and their associated piston rods 33. The end of the cylinder whichis away front the piston rod is fastened to the under surface of the table portion of the superstructure, while the outer end of the piston rodis pivotally mounted between abutments 34 extending upwardly from the upper surface of the cover 24. Suitable means is provided for setting the cylinders in motion'under the control of an operator,-but this means is not shown, not is it part of the present invention.-

This renders the conduits collapsible to compensate for lifting of the cover.

It is to be further notedin Figure 1 that a pusher rod 35 extends adjacent the level of the upper edge of the housing 1 3, but its operating mechanism is not shown. In addition, a conveyor 36' resides on the side of the reel opposite the pusher rod and has its upper surface in the plane of the top of the housing. A suitable foundation 37 is provided for the apparatus.

Referring to Figure 2, the reeling apparatus is shown from a slightly different aspect and the pouring reel 11 is shown in somewhat greater detail. The reel comprises a horizontal coil plate 38 through which pass a circular row of inner pins 40 and a circular row of outer pins 41. The pins are fastened to a driven plate 42 which underlies the coil plate and serves to support and drive it; The pins extend upwardly from the driven member 42' through apertures-in the coilplate 38- and serve as a positive driving connection therebetween. The housing 13 surrounds all of these elements. The driven plate 42 is fixed to and concentric with a hub member 43 which has atub'ular portion 44 which extends downwardly and a'skirt' portion 45-which extends downwardly and outwardly.- The lower edge of the skirt has a bevel pinion gear 46' fastened thereto. The pinion gear engages another bevel gear, not shown, which is keyed to the horizontal'drive shaft 12, shown in Figure 1. The shaft is, of course; connected in turn to a source of power by which the reelis driven. A housing 47 surrounds the gear and serves to support the elements of the reel. The hub member 43 is su ported on the housing 47, there being a combinedthrust and radial bearing 48therebetweeni Through the tubular portion 44 of the hub member'exte'nds a shaft 49 which is fastened at its upper end to the coil plate and at-its lower end to an actuating mechanism, not shown, which,

-on occasion, causes the shaft to the coil plate with it.

The housing 13 is provided with airexit apertures 50" and 5 1, the passage ofeach slot throughthe wall of the housing being substantially inclined to a radius and in the opposite direction to the direction of rotation of the pins so that a rod end cannot enter an aperture and be move upwardly, carrying grasped, thereby. A rod admission opening 52 is provided for the rod pipe 53.

The operation of the invention will now be understood in view of the above description; The reel will operate in the usual manner, with the driven plate 42 being driven through the bevel gear 46 and the hub member 43 and, in turn, driving the coil plate 38 and the pins 40 and 41. The rod which is to be coiled enters the reel through the opening 52 and the pipe 53 after leaving the last stand of the rod mill and passing through rod pipes and cooling box and passes into the annular space between the inner pins 40 and the outer pins 41. The coil of rod begins to accumulate. Cooling air originating in the fan passes downwardly through the conduit 21 and the conduit 28 through the aperture 27 in the cover 24 and into the housing 13. The air flows rapidly outwardly and passes through the coil which is accumulating, thus cooling the rod. Although the air exit apertures in the housing are shown for purposes of illustration as being larger in the lower portion of the housing and smaller in the upper portion, it is to be understood that the absolute and relative sizes of these apertures will be selected to give the optimum air flow distribution for a given set of conditions. There will be a tendency, for instance, for the air to flow outwardly through the upper apertures and, to compensate for this, they would be made smaller to force the air flow downwardly and outwardly through the lower aperture. However, it is also to be realized that the rod in the lower part of the coil will be under the cooling effect of the airfor a considerably longer time than the rod which is deposited on the top portion of the coil; thus, the intensity of airflow should be greater through the upper part of the coil during the short time that the rod in that part of the coil resides in the reel. When the coil has been completed, the operator will actuate the shaft 49, thus raising the coil plate 38 and the coil to the level of the conveyor 36, above the top edge of the housing 13, where the pusher rod 35 moves the coil laterally onto the conveyor 36. At the same time that the shaft 49 is actuated, the hydraulic actuating cylinders 32 and their associated piston rods will be set in motion to raise thecover 24. The upward motion of the cover carries with it the conduit 28 which will telescope over the outer surface of the conduit 21, so that the combination formed by the conduits will collapse. The guide braces 30 and 31 will slide along the supporting members 17 and 18 and prevent the suspended cover and conduit 28 from swinging or turning relative to the conduit 21. When the coil has been pushed onto the conveyor 36 and the pusher rod has been retracted, the cover and conduit 28 are lowered into their original positions and the apparatus is ready for the introduction of another rod length.

Other modes of applying the principles of the invention may be employed, change being made as regards the details described, provided the features stated in the following claims, or the equivalent of such, be employed.

I therefore particularly point out and distinctly claim as my invention:

1. A reeling apparatus comprising a pouring reel having a substantially vertical axis of rotation and having a housing, a superstructure having a source of cooling air mounted thereon, a conduit depending from the said superstructure and connected at its upper end to the said source, a cover for the housing having a vertical conduit extending through and upwardly therefrom, the two conduits telescoping at all times and having an airtight seal therebetween, and means for raising the cover and its associated conduit upwardly from thelhousing.

2. A reeling apparatus comprising a pouring reel having fixed circular housing, a driven plate, two concentric rows of pins fastened to and extending vertically upwardly from the said plate, means for driving the plate and pins to rotate them about the center of the pin circles, a coil plate adapted to move from a position adjacent the driven plate to a position above the top edge of the housing, a cover adapted to fit over the top of the housing, a first conduit passing through and extending upwardly from the cover, a superstructure overlying the cover, a fan mounted on the superstructure, a second conduit connected to the fan and extending downwardly from the superstructure so as to be aligned with the first conduit, the two conduits being telescoping and having a seal therebetween, and motor means extending between the cover and the superstructure to raise the former toward the latter to permit the coil plate bearing a coil to be moved to a position above the top edge of the housing.

3. A reeling apparatus comprising a pouring reel having a fixed circular housing, a driven plate, two concentric rows of pins fastened to and extending vertically upwardly from the said plate, means for driving the plate and pins to rotate them about the center of the pin circles, a coil plate adapted to move from a position adjacent the driven plate to a position above the top edge of the housing,,a cover adapted to fit over the top of the housing, a first rigid conduit passing through and extending upwardly in fixed relationship to the cover, a superstructure overlying the cover, a fan mounted on the superstructure, a second rigid conduit connected to the fan and extending downwardly in fixed relationship to the superstructure and aligned with the first conduit, the two conduits telescoping and having a seal therebetween, and motor means extending between the cover and the superstructure to raise the former toward the latter to permit the coil plate bearing a coil to be moved to a position above the top edge of the housing.

4. A reeling apparatus comprising a pouring reel having a vertical axis of rotation and having a housing, a horizontal cover for said housing, a first vertical conduit extending through the said cover in a manner generally coaxial with the said axis of rotation of the reel, a source of cooling air, second conduit means joining the said source to the end of'the vertical conduit which is away from the cover, and an actuating means for removing the cover and the vertical conduit from the reel to permit the removal of coiled product therefrom, the said first conduit and the said second conduit means being collapsible to compensate for changes in distance between the source and the cover.

5. A reeling apparatus comprising a pouring reel having a housing, a cover for the said housing, and first conduit extending into the said cover, means for introducing cooling air into said conduit for passage into the housing to contact the coiled product, second conduit means joining the first conduit to the said means for introducing cooling air, means for removing the air from thehousing after it is passed over the coiled product, and means for removing said cover and first conduit from the housing to permit the removal of the coiled product, the saidfirst conduit and the said second conduit means being collapsible to compensate for changes in distance between the said means for introducing cooling air and the cover. V r

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 648,259 Hollingsworth Apr. 24, 1900 2,068,913 Gregg Jan. 26, 1937 2,109,204 Wilson Feb. 22, 1938 2,621,914 Morgan Dec. 16, 1952 2,658,012 Strachan Nov. 3, 1953 2,756,169 Corson et al. July 24, 1956 

